This invention generally relates to water treatment and disinfection, and particularly to a device that utilizes ultraviolet ("UV") rays to disinfect water. More specifically, the device of this invention addresses the need for UV disinfection related to water treatment processes such as those that use reverse osmosis or filtration, where it is important to disinfect the water both before and after the water treatment process.
Water purification and disinfection units are well known in the art. Some use mechanical filtration to remove impurities suspended as particles in the water, while others use a combination system, such as mechanical filtration and ultraviolet rays to purify, sterilize and disinfect the water. Other water treatment systems exist, which use well known reverse osmosis technology to purify the water. In various water treatment processes, such as those using reverse osmosis or other filtration systems, it would be desirable and important to disinfect the water both before and after the water treatment process. As an example, disinfection of the pre-reverse osmosis (untreated) water is important because bacteria present in the water can cause biofouling of the reverse osmosis membrane, and disinfection of the post-reverse osmosis (treated) water is important because of the possibility that bacterial contamination has been introduced during the reverse osmosis process or during the storage of the treated water. In disinfecting the untreated and treated water, it would also be desirable to be able to maintain those bodies of water separate and apart from each other during the disinfection process.
The present invention satisfies these needs by providing a water treatment apparatus and process which utilizes separate chambers for flow of untreated and treated water which are disinfected by ultraviolet rays that can pass through one chamber to the other. The flow capacity of the device of the invention is not limited, and can be adapted for manufacture in various sizes to meet the particular flow rate needs of the desired water treatment process. The size of the device of the invention can be varied according to the available technology for producing the desired UV light intensity.